Soulmate
by CrystalMetaphor
Summary: One-shot (Complete). Continuation. After her near-death experience, Akane has some revelations. Her and Ranma finally "talk".


SOULMATE (A Ranma ½ Fanfiction by Crystal Metaphor)  
  
Kneeling by a headstone, a young, blue-haired girl ran her fingers sentimentally across its cold hard surface. Her expression was lost as her mind wandered back to a memory of that fateful incident not more than one week earlier.  
  
She was suspended between life and the afterlife. It was a deciding moment. She did not know how she knew that; she simply did. Looking down, she saw her body cradled in the arms of a familiar pig-tailed boy. She watched, almost impassively, as the boy pulled his shirt off and covered her. She heard his words – spoken and unspoken – and something in her sparked. The indifference of the hereafter had not completely assumed her yet. Thus her heart responded to the tiny but significant tugging, which ultimately helped her resist the promise of peace and contentment that beckoned from another direction. And she chose to instead return to the boy and her present life, knowing she had much unfinished business to attend to before she was ready to rest.  
  
*****  
  
=Wake up, Akane...there's something I want to tell you...=  
  
*****  
  
Sighing, the girl regarded the letters on the headstone in front of her: To a Loving Mother and Beloved Wife, May You Rest in Peace, Kimyko Tendou.  
  
The youngest Tendou daughter wondered then if her mother had gone through a similar experience prior to her departure. Once, part of her might have become angry if she had known her mother had the choice to stay, but still chose not to. But somehow, she now understood that there are things bigger and greater then any one of them – there is a natural, intrinsic order to the world beyond human comprehension. In short, everything happens for a reason.  
  
Akane was given a choice for a reason. And she came back for a reason. Now, if only she could remember what the exact nature of that reason was supposed to be. It all becomes so hazy after that point.  
  
*****  
  
=Ranma, you love me right?=  
  
=Eh?=  
  
=Back at Jusenkyo, I thought I heard...you said...=  
  
=I never said it!=  
  
=You almost did!=  
  
=What! You want to fight!?=  
  
*****  
  
A breeze came by and Akane closed her eyes and exhaled. "Oh Ranma, I wish I knew what to do with you. Or is there really anything to do with you at all?"  
  
A few metres away, a pig-tailed boy strained to hear the rest of the softly spoken thoughts after his name, but the rustling of the leaves in the tree where he was hiding muffled the rest of the words.  
  
He continued to watch as his petite fiancée rose slowly to her feet, dusting herself off before bowing low to her mother's grave, then turning to leave. Careful to stay undetected, the martial artist crept stealthily yet quickly after his charge afraid to let her too far out of his sight.  
  
Ranma was indeed afraid. It was peculiar for the often over-confident, ego- centric and crude-mouthed martial artist. True he had an abnormal phobia of felines and detested cold water, but neither condition could really compare. At least not in the way that the physical, mental, and emotional effects of this current fear has built up so gradually over time that his conscious mind was only now beginning to catch on to its implications.  
  
Ranma had a fear of losing Akane.  
  
No. That wasn't right.  
  
He *l-l-loves* Akane...if that is the correct word for that terrifying, all- consuming emotion that takes over whenever he thinks of her. But he was honestly not ready to explore that territory just yet.  
  
He was a martial artist. He needed to stay in control. And to stay in control, one needs focus.  
  
Once again, he felt it even before the images formed...the swelling up of an emotion so strong, so overwhelming, so _out-of_-control that it took all his concentration and more to beat it back down, and stuff it back to from where it came – into that once tightly-lidded box hidden in the darkest corner of his heart.  
  
But like Pandora's Box, once loosened, he knew it would only be a matter of time before either the bolts give way or the box simply explodes from the overwhelming pressure of its contents.  
  
Until then, however, he was content to merely focus on protecting his fiancée. Regardless of the implications of his doing so, he was definitely more afraid of a repeat experience of that total and complete loss he felt when he thought Akane was gone forever.  
  
Rounding a corner, said fiancée disappeared briefly and Ranma sped up his pursuit in momentary panic. He skidded to a halt when he nearly collided with her, as she had stopped and was waiting with her back to a wall regarding him slightly.  
  
"Why are you following me?" Akane asked with an even voice, surprisingly calm.  
  
"Huh?" was the pig-tailed boy's intelligent reply, as he got over his surprise over first confronting the girl and then at her unexpected question.  
  
"I asked you, why have you been following me, Ranma? You have been since...since – are you okay?" Akane decided against bringing up that much too fresh and uncomfortable memory.  
  
Too late. Ranma flinched as he caught her words. And the two stood in silence for the next few moments as each fought to settle his/her own internal battle.  
  
Akane recovered slightly quicker, however – partly due to more recent practice. She looked at Ranma and seeing the conflict knotting his brows, she took pity on him. Atypically, she reached out and tilted his chin up with her fingers. Looking into his eyes, she willed him a message of calm. Then she took his hand.  
  
"Come on, Ranma. I think we need to talk." With that, she led him the blushing boy by the hand and the two continued in silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they arrived at a familiar spot under a bridge.  
  
Letting go of Ranma, Akane sat down on a little slope a safe distance from the water, motioning for Ranma to do the same.  
  
Ranma immediately felt the loss when Akane let go of his hand, so he sat down closely next to her. Reassured by the tangible warmth of her body next to his, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.  
  
Suddenly, he nerves started acting up again, and he could feel the flood rushing to fill his face as he glanced at the girl next to him.  
  
Sensing his nervousness, Akane smiled. "It's okay, Ranma." Akane did not know how she could be so calm. Perhaps dying has a way of making one more perceptive back in the land of the living. Or perhaps her experience triggered that switch to finally allow her to grown up a little.  
  
Scooting over a little more, Akane hesitated only slightly before she laid her head on Ranma's shoulder.  
  
Surprised, Ranma tensed up, not sure how to react to the sudden boldness of his normally elusive fiancée. When another moment or two passed and there was no more action from the girl, the pig-tailed boy slowly and gradually raised his arm to hold her loosely by the shoulder.  
  
Sighing contentedly, Akane settled herself more comfortably in the position. And Ranma tightened his hold then relaxed as well.  
  
The two fiancés continued to sit in companionable silence, content with the world and generally not thinking too much about anything, as they watched the water lapping the sands on the beach. Secretly they wondered at the absence of the usual interruptions to moments like these – between the two of them in particular, but decided to enjoy it for what it's worth.  
  
Perhaps Akane's calm finally rubbed off a bit on Ranma, and he ventured to ask, "So Akane, what d'ya wanna talk about?"  
  
Smiling, Akane closed her eyes. Inhaling deeply, she let out a slow cleansing breath, releasing all and any remaining doubt and tension. Damn the consequences.   
  
Opening her eyes, she turned and looked again into her fiancé's beautiful blue eyes. She could see the innocence and caring there, underneath the fear and doubts. Somehow she knew then what she was about to say was beyond words. Words never succeeded very well where the two of them were concerned anyhow. So instead, she acted.  
  
Leaning forward, she captured her fiancé's lips with her own in a sweet, tender kiss. As expected, Ranma went into shock-mode. But eventually he relaxed, the calm of their previous mood enabling him to recover much quicker. And thus, Akane managed to convey all the love she felt for him across the contact, which he received gratefully, then hungrily. It wasn't long before he wrapped Akane in a much closer embrace and was returning her kiss with a vengeance.  
  
Over a year's worth of pent-up passion, hidden emotions, and spiritual longing was poured into that kiss, which could only be described as "super- super-intense".  
  
Finally the two teenaged martial artists came up, gasping for air. Looking once again into each other's eyes, they confirmed each other's existence.  
  
"Ranma"  
  
"Akane"  
  
Then they collapsed into one another's arms and sobbed, clinging desperately to the other for support and as well as to offer support, as they sought the release all the stress and tension that they've had to endure over the years.  
  
Akane was right. No words were needed, or could even come close to justifying everything that would have needed to be said. And more was communicated in that powerful moment than anything that could have been said. Words would come later, rest assured. But by then, at least their souls would be content in the knowledge that they were at last complete. 


End file.
